Dudley Kingswinford 14 v 19 Redruth

Report by Clifton Welch, a Redruth man currently in exile.

It was a lovely sunny, crisp January day as I left Sutton Coldfield and crossed Birmingham to visit Dudley rugby ground, a venue I'd never visited before. The ground has a small but nice club shop and very pleasant club house. The majority of the fans were seated in a modern stand that sat alongside one touchline.
The pitch was soft but in remarkably good condition considering the amount of rain that had fallen across the West Midlands in recent days.

Redruth kicked off and spent the first 10 minutes camped inside the Dudley half. So it was against the run of play and after some missed tackles in the Redruth defence that Dudley scored first with a try and conversion to lead 7-0.
Redruth continued to have most of the possession and it was not long before 
Andrewartha scored a try converted by Brownfield to make it 7 all. Redruth continued to attack and after a cross field kick, Nowell caught the ball and scored in the corner. The crowd made it very clear they did not believe Nowell had grounded the ball properly but referee Conner awarded a Redruth try the first of several close decisions that went Redruth’s way. The difficult conversion was missed and Redruth now led 12-7. Redruth came close to extending their lead before half time but had to settle for a 12-7 lead.

The first 20 minutes of the second half saw Dudley take control of the match and almost all of the action took place inside the Redruth 22. Dudley again took advantage of some missed tackles to cross the Redruth line, but as the Dudley player dived over the line he lost control of the ball and no try was given. But Dudley continued to press and eventually scored a converted try to take the lead 14-12.
Now the game changed again. Redruth were struggling in the scrums but dominating the line outs and the last quarter of the game was all Redruth. Twice Redruth came close to scoring but lost the ball due to infringements. Then Dudley had a player yellow carded for a deliberate knock on and within minutes Redruth scored a try by Hocking which was converted, 19-12 to Redruth with less than 5 minutes of normal time to play. It was obvious to all that there would be a substantial amount of injury time as the second half was interrupted several times. Dudley still with 14 men attacked without really threatening to score. Then Redruth broke  out on a counter that nearly led to a 4th try and a bonus point but were held up just short. The last 3 minutes or so took place inside Dudleys 22 before the ref blew full time.
A good game which at times could have gone either way was won by Redruth 19-14.

Dudley Kingswinford
Tries: Morgan F., Marsh
Conv: Mannion (2)

Redruth
Tries: Andrewartha, Nowell, Hocking
Conv: Brownfield (2)

Referee: Peter Connor
Assistant Referees: Adam Hughes & Martyn Sly.